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January 14, 2013

I start this post virtually the same every year, but I want to repeat it. This is my least favorite post I write on this blog, but I do feel it is important. Dogs are such wonderful companions in our lives. In the United States, more than 75 million dogs share our homes with us, take us on walks, are our running partners, snuggle on the couch with us, and share our beds. They are outstanding companions that bring joy to millions of Americans who share their lives with dogs. They are wonderfully adaptive to the wide arrange of living environments we humans subject them to. And we love them for it, and they in turn, love us back.

I'd much rather focus on the POSITIVE of what dogs bring to our lives.

However, dogs do require training, and care. And sometimes, they do bite. And rarely, those bites are severe, or even fatal. Really, when only about 30 out of 75 million owned dogs in this country are involved in fatal dog attack incidents each year, it is hardly an epidemic compared to the tens of thousands of lives lost to everyday household items like ladders, poisonous household cleaners, stairs, auto mobiles or swimming pools.

However, because there seems to be so much mis-information about fatal dog bites -- and because they seem to fascinate politicians -- I do my best to compile annual information for everyone in a timely manner that may be used to dispell the mis-information that exists elsewhere. I feel that if people truly understand WHY these tragedies happen, they can be better equipped to prevent them in the future.

So before I get into the individual incidents, here are a few things worth mentioning:

1) Because of the rarity of these extreme cases (36 out of 75 million owned dogs in this country), it is obvious that most dogs, regardless of breed, are not aggressive. Even if every single incident involved the same breed of dog, and it was an extremely rare breed, the majority of dogs of that breed would still have proven to be safe. Given the obvious fact that most dogs are not aggressive, it becomes even more important to look at the human-led circumstances that led up to, and caused, this particular dog to attack in this particular situation.

2) Media reporting varies wildly. Some incidents get a lot of media attention, some get almost none. Some of the media information is accurate, some is not. I confess that the vast majority of the information in this post comes from media reports -- and with that will have some innaccuracies. I've done my best to cut through the hysteria to get as much accurate information as I can find, but there will be inaccuracies based on inaccurate information in media reports.

3) In some instances, I've included information on poverty levels where attacks occurred. I don't do this to imply that low-income people are not good pet ownes. In fact, most are. However, in general, low income areas also are areas with lower education levels, and higher crime. Often poor formal education leads to lower education all around, including about proper animal care. This, combined with high crime causing people to want a dog with some form of "guarding" role in the home, can sometimes be a causal factor in major incidents. More than 40% of the fatal dog bite incidents in 2012 were in areas with poverty rates well above the national average -- even though only 15% of the US lives below the poverty line. I include the information so that we can at least consider the societal factors that pay a role in these incidents.

4) There are many who make the mistake of trying to link breed as a causal factor in these incidents -- however, while the incidents themselves carry many similar factors, the breeds are often very different. The circumstances of these events have far more in common than the types of dogs involved, and any breed correlation is likely to have more to do with popularity of given breeds and the likelihood of a particular breed being put in poor circumstance.

So with that, here's the list of all of the U.S. fatal dog bite incidents in 2012, along with some pertinent facts. I'll summarize my thoughts following the reported incidents. If you click on the victim's name, it will link to more information from my original report about the story - but the general format will be the name of the victim, age, location, breed description of the dog and some circumstances around the incident. Not that most of the dog breeds are in quotes because they are based on the breed ID given by the most knowledable person quoted in a news story about the situation -- but it's well documented that even "expert" opinion on breed ID in a shelter environment is very subjective.

1) Jace Paul Valdez -- 2 years old - Montgomery County, TX - "Pit bull" - The victim was left to sleep unattended with the dog present. The child and the dog were not familiar with one another. The story was picked up by more than 100 media outlets.

2) John Doe - 6 years old - Oak Grove, KY - German Shepherd - The child and his family were visiting a friend at a military base. The boy was left alone in the yard with the dog when he was attacked. There were no witnesses. The dog was a trained service dog to help the owner cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and does not appear to have been familiar with the child.

3) Howard Nicholson - 2 days old - McKeesport, PA - Husky - The newborn infant was left alone with the family dog while the mother used the bathroom. The story was picked up by 30 media outlets and the incident happened in a relatively high poverty area.

4) Dylan Andres - 17 months - Jacksonville, FL - Rottweiler - While the toddler's mother was unloading groceries from the car, the victim darted over to a neighbor's yard and up to the dog that was left chained up in the yard while the owner was not home. No one directly witnessed the attack, but the boy's mother did hear the commotion. The incident happend in an area that has more than double the national poverty rate.

5) Kyler Johnson - 4 years old - Victoria County, TX - "pit bull or pit bull mix" - The boy wandered away from his home while his dad was cleaning the car. The boy was lost for about 15 hours, and was searched for by more than 100 people including law enforcement, before he was eventually found more than 1/2 mile from his home. The dog was one of 10 dogs that was chained up behind a fence on the owner's property; the dogs were reportely used for wild boar hunting. The boy's family had a history of tragic situations. In October 2010, someone other than the boy's father was accused of abuse and lack of child supervision. A month later, physical abuse against Kyler was accused, although no evidence was found. And the home where Kyler lived was subject to a homicide investigation and "several other calls" including a situation where a person at a party at the home accidentally shot himself in the head. The story was picked up by more than 50 media outlets.

6) James Hurt - 92 - Mead, OK - 2 "Pit bulls" - The dogs involved in the incident had a history of running loose and had on many occassions threatened residents and even bitten people -- and in this case, apparently attacked Mr. Hurt while he was gardening. Mead, OK is very economically depressed area. The story was picked up by only a small number of media outlets.

7) Aiden McGrew - 2 months - Ridgeville, SC - "Retriever/Lab Mix" - Apparently the child was left sitting in a baby swing while the father slept in another room and the mother was away from the home. While the father slept in another room, the dog reportedly attacked and "dismembered" the child. The story was covered in more than 300 news outlets and the area in which the incident happened had a poverty level of more than double the national average. And lest anyone think that poor pet ownership has nothing to do with dog attacks, just last week, another child in the McGrew household was attacked (fortunately not fatally) by a different dog in the home. The father in this case, Quintin McGrew, is still awaiting trial for "parental neglect" from the first incident.

8) Jeremiah Shahan - 1 year - Henderson, NV - "Mastiff-Rhodesian Ridgeback mix" - On the night of the child's first birthday the boy's grandmother got ready to put him to bed. However, the boy grabbed the dog on both sides of his body in order to pull himself up (the toddler was just learning how to walk) and the dog spun around and bit the child and the child died from the injuries. I think this story underscores the reality that all fatal incidents are not necessarily "attacks" but can be just tragically placed "bites." The story was covered in 3 different media outlets.

9) Cliff Wright - 74 - Sante Fe, NM - "pit bull" -- There were no witnesses to the incident, but the man was found dead in his front lawn and autopsy reports confirmed that the man had suffered fatal dog bites. The story was picked up by 20 news sources.

10) Jazilyn Mesa - 16 months - Las Cruces, NM - "pit bull" - The child was left alone with the dog in the back of her grandparent's house. The grandmother apparently heard the rukus and went out back to help the toddler but was too late.

11) Makayla Darnell - 3 days - Beaverdam, OH - "appeared to be a pit bull mix" - The child was left in a swing while the parents were in another room. The dog was left alone with the infant and the dog bit the child in the head - -the child died several hours later at the hospital. Similar to an earlier incident, this appears to have been more of a "bite" than an "attack."

12) JaMarr Tiller - 2 - Mt. Pleasant, SC - "2 mixed breeds", described by one media sources as "Lab/Shepherd mixes" - The young toddler was alone outside is family's home, having apparently gotten up out of bed at night and leaving the house without the adults knowing, and was bitten multiple times by two, at large dogs. Because there were no witnesses in the attack, there was some suspicion that Coyotes may have been involved, but forensic evidence pointed to two dogs that were in the area. Authorities had visited the home location on three previous occassions on calls of stray dogs in the area, but the dogs were never captured.

13) Mary Ann Hanula - 73 - Surprise, AZ - 2 'pit bulls' - The victim as in the front yard of her home when the two dogs, that escaped from her neighbor's yard, attacked her. The attack occurred in 2011, but Hanula died in 2012 from complications from the injuries she sustained.

14) Jack Redin - 2 - Pleasant County, WV - "Mixed breed dogs" - The two dogs were kept behind an electric fence, but the 2 year old toddler rode his big wheel into the yard where the dogs were being kept and was attacked by the dogs. The story was picked up by 13 media outlets.

15) Tyzhel McWilliams - 8 months - Lemon Grove, CA - "pit bull" - The toddler was left alone with one of 3 of the family's dogs while the boy's mother and some friends weres talking and smoking marajuana in the next room. The boy had recently started crawling, and was apparently attacked by the dog. The story was picked up by 30 media outlets and poverty does seem to be a factor.

16) Kevin Latz - 50 - Reno, NV - Unknown - The man was identified in a "suspicious death" involving a canine. Virtually no information has been released about this incident.

17) Ronald Brown - 40 - Cincinnati, OH - Alapaha Plue Blood Bulldog - The victim was killed by his own dog. The man was on dialysis and the attack caused a device in his forarm to be ripped out, causing a pretty substantial wound in his forearm. There was also marajuana found in the apartment -- apparently in quantities that he had enough to sell. It seems likely that the dog had a role in guarding the stash. The incident happened in Avondale, an area with more than 40% of the population living below the poverty line.

18) Charles Hagerman - 44 - Chicago, IL - "Pit bulls" - The man was found dead in his home where the two dogs (one puppy, one adult) were. According to some close to the victim, the adult dog had frequently shown signs of aggression and Hagerman was said to be afraid of the dog. The story was picked up by 19 media outlets. This area of Chicago has a very high poverty rate.

19) Rebecca Carey - 23 - Decatur, GA - "unknown/mulitple" - The victim was a rescuer who had 5 dogs in her home -- including a Boxer, a pit bull, and two Presa Canarios. Four of the dogs were hers, but one of the Presa Canarios was just staying with her while a friend was out of town. Not much is known about the circumstances of the attack and the dogs were all killed before any investigation was even done that would indicate which dog was responsible for the attack. While it would seem that Carey may have gotten in between two of the dogs that had been fighting, at this point there really is no knowing. This story was covered by more than 150 news outlets.

20) Eugene Cameron - 65 - Roxboro, NC - "pit bull" - This is a really odd story. The man was apparently found dead in his yard. He was naked, with his clothes balled up beside him -- but died of wounds consistent from a dog bite and the dog's DNA was found on the victim. The dog was usually kept "Locked up or on a leash". The story ran in only about a dozen news sources.

21) Dawn Jurgens - 75 - Trotwood, OH - "2 Cane Corsos" - The victim owned the dogs and reportedly had food "on or about her person" and the dogs went into a frenzy when she tried to put them back into their kennels and the dogs ended up killing the victim. The story was picked up by 1 media outlet.

22) Debra Renee Wilson-Roberts - 45 - Jefferson County, AR - 2 "pit bulls" -- although one is listed at more than 100 lbs, which would be much bigger than a likely pit bull - The victim was attacked by two of her own dogs. Neighbors had often complained about the dogs being abused and neglected, and the home was currently without running water. The dogs also had a history of biting the victim. So the dogs had a history of being poorly cared for and of violence, and yet were allowed to remain in this sitaution. Poverty was definitely a factor in this case.

23) Bryton Cason - 4 - Donalsonville, GA - Unknown - This is a bizarre story lacking a lot of details, but apparently the 4 year old boy wandered from his home unattended. He was reported missing by his family and after a search of several hours in the dark, the boy's body was found in some tall grass in his own front yard. The boy had injuries consistent with dog bites. There were no witnesses to the incident, and no information about the dog(s) that attacked him (although it/they was clearly roaming at large).

24) James Hudson - 10 months - Hertford, NC - Mixed breed dog, Described as a "Labrador/American Bulldog mix" by officals at the county shelter - There were very few details reported about the story but the boy was apparently playing on the bed when the dog began to attack the boy. It is unclear if the child was supervised at the time of the attack. The dog had bitten people on previous occassions. The story was picked up by 20 media outlets.

25) Willam Donald Thomas - 83 - Leeds, AL - 2 Rottweilers - Two of 35 dogs that lived on a neighbor's property escaped and attacked Thomas while he went out to check the mail. The owners of the dogs, who were breeding them, were later indicted for homicide after admitting that they were no longer able to properly care for the dogs. The story was only picked up in 3 media sources. Poverty, and also a high incident of violent crimes, exists in the area.

26) Rayden Bruce - 3 months - Burleson, TX - mixed breed - Police were on the scene investigating a domestic distrubance call (the boy's mother and father were separated, but the mother came to the father's home when an argument broke out) . While police were there, the boy fell asleep in his grandmother's arms and she took him inside and put him to bed - and in the process, left the infant alone with the dog. The story was picked up by 39 news outlets -- and clearly a domestic disturbance was a contributing factor.

27) Nellie Davis - 60 - Oklahoma City - "pit bull" - Ms. Davis' granddaughter moved into her home while she was recovering from a long-standing sickness following having a heart transplant. While her granddaughter was away, one of the two dogs she kep in the home "broke free" from it's plastic kennel (that sounds as if it is a travel crate, not a more sturdy metal kennel) and attacked Ms. Davis.

28) Mary Jo Hunt - 53 - Pembroke, NC - unknown - Hunt was in the back yard of her home with "10-15 dogs" - described as a mix of German Shepherds and mixed breed dogs). Apparently a couple of the larger dogs attacked one of the smaller dogs, and Hunt made an attempt to break up the rukus but was overwhelmed by the larger number of dogs and died of injuries she sustained. The area where this happened had a poverty rate nearly double the national average. The story was picked up by 23 news sources.

29) Tarilyn Bowles - 3 weeks - Detroit, MI - 'pit bull' - According to the reports, the woman set the child down on the floor in her carrier, not realizing the dog was present. While she was not watching, the dog came up and bit the child, who died of the injures she received. Many parts of the story as it as reported really don't add up. The area of Detroit where this happened had a poverty rate nearly 3x the national average.

30) Remedios Romero Solares - 30 - Fallbrook, CA - 8 Olde English Bulldogs/American Bulldog mixes - The victim was house sitting for the home owners when she was attacked by one or more of the 8 Olde English Bulldog/American Bulldog mixes that lived at the home. The owners of the dogs were breeding the dogs and crossing the two breeds in order to get slightly bigger Olde English Bulldogs. Marijuana was found growing in the home. The story was picked up by 19 news sources.

31) Dixie Jennings - 2 months - Yadkin, NC - Rottweiler - The child's family owns a dog kennel, and they had the child at the kennel. A Rottweiler apparently pushed its way through an unlatched door and came upon the infant and bit her, causing fatal injuries. The story was reported in 14 news outlets.

32) Dawn Brown - 44 -Big Rock, IL - Mastiff - Brown had just taken in the Mastiff a couple of weeks prior after a family members said they no longer wanted the dog because they had a newborn infant. There were no witnesses to the attack, but Brown's boss had noted that she had mentioned that the mastiff had "turf wards" between it and her two other dogs. This may have resulted in an altercation in which Brown got in the middle of and suffered her injury. While no one witnessed the attack, autopsy reports noted that the bites matched those of the newly acquired mastiff. The story was picked up by 37 news sources.

33) Robert Rochester - 55 - Stanton, DE - German Shepherd - Rochester, a postal worker, sustained serious injuries after being attacked by the dog that go loose from a home while he was on his route. He was released from the hospital, but later suffered "complications" that were thought to be related to the attack and suffered cardiac arrest and died. The story was covered by 19 news sources.

34) Estaban Alavez -34 - Selma, CA - 4 "pit bulls" - The man was attacked by four dogs that were frequently found roaming at large and had been noted for displaying aggressive behavior. The dogs bit Alavez, with one of the bites puncturing his jugular vein, causing his death. Selma, CA has a poverty rate more than double the national average. The story was covered by 25 news sources.

35) Savannah Edwards - 2 - Shawnee County, KS - "pit bull" - There aren't a lot of details around the circumstances of the incident. The toddler and her mother were visiting a family member and the relative's dog bit the child, causing injuries that led to her death. It is unclear if the child was supervised at the time of the attack.

36) Thomas Henio - 8 - Cibola County, NM - mixed breed feral dogs - The 8 year old was out sledding by himself when he was apparently attacked by aa pack of 9 feral dogs. The incident happened on Navajo Nation owned land, which has been plagued by high numbers (an estimated 445,000 dogs compared to a population of about 89,000 households) and packs of feral dogs -- in large part due to cultural differences in the idea of dog ownership. Poverty is definitely a factor in this attack. It should also be noted that similarly, a pack of a least 25 stray, feral dogs are apparently to blame or the deaths of 4 people in Mexico in early 2013.

37) Elizabeth Hirt - 93 - Dayton, OH - 2 Boston Terriers. This is a late addition to this post -- but Hirt was badly injured by two Boston Terriers in her home. Hirt's 66 year old daughter was in the home with her at the time, and allegedly intoxicated. The incident received one media report in 2012, that noted her injuries. Hirt died 2 weeks later with no media reports.

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In total, there were 37 people who were fatally injured in dog attacks this year.

-- 6 were infants less than 8 months old

-- 13 were children aged 8 months - 8 years

-- 18 of the victims were adults over the age of 23

I divide these into separate age categories because the circumstances surround each age group are very different. Infants under 8 months of age are not mobile on their own. At 8 months they become mobile (which creates other circumstances) and adults are obviously much different from children.

-- In these cases, there were 15 different breed classifications that are present.

Infants

Of the six infants that were involved, there were 6 different breeds or breed mixes involved: Husky, Retriever/Lab mix, pit bull, "mixed breed" and Rottweiler

In every single case the infant was left unattended with the dog.

I should note, that by-and-large dogs are very safe with infants, and no doubt, dogs get left alone with children all the time without incident. But they are dogs, and infants have little to no cognitive ability when it comes to dogs and are very fragile and succeptable to injury, and thus, it is important for parents to supervise ALL interactions between dogs and young children. This is why I recommend all parents consult with a dog training professional (I often recommend Family Paws Parent Education) for information on how to best bring a newborn into a home with a family pet.

One case involved an 8 year old that was attacked by a pack of feral dogs on an Indian Reservation (where feral dogs are plentiful). One involved a 6 year old playing in the yard alone with a large German Shepherd that he was unfamiliar with.

In the remaining 11 cases, the victims were 4 years of age or less.

-- In at least 8 of these 11 cases, the child was left unattended. In two cases it is unclear if adults were present or not, and in one case, a small toddler appeared to have startled, or possibly injured the dog causing a quick snap that was ill-placed and proved fatal.

-- 3 incidents occurred when a child was left unattended with the dog in the home (consistent with the situation with infants above)

-- 2 incidents involved a child leaving the home unbeknown to the adults present and being attacked in the yard by stray dogs

-- 3 incidents involved the child wandering onto a neighbor's property (once, more than 1/2 mile away from home) and wandering up to dogs that were contained on the owner's property. In two of these cases the dogs were chained, and in one case, two dogs were contained by an electronic fence that kept the dogs in, but not the toddler out.

-- In the cases involving children under the age of 4 leaving their home/yard unattended, I think it's important to think about the large number of things that would be safety risks in your own neighborhood for a child that age that is unsupervised. There are no shortage of risks out there for unsupervised children, and in rare cases, dogs are one of those risks.

Adults

There were 17 cases involving adult victims in 2012.

-- There were 9 different breeds of dogs noted in these cases: Alapaha Blue Bull Dog, Cane Corso, Boston Terrier, Rottweiler, Old English Bulldog/American Bulldog mix, pit bull, German Shepherd and in 2 cases the attacking dog was unknown.

-- 7 incidents involved elderly or disabled victims

-- 6 incidents occurred inside the home

-- In 5 cases, a history of aggressive behavior was specifically noted previously. In 2 other cases, a history of abuse/neglect was present.

-- 11 of the incidents involved multiple dogs -- showing that pack-bahavior is different in these cases than solo behavior.

- Two of these cases involved rescuers who appeared to have gotten more animals than they could handle alone and put themselves in a safety risk. Rescuers, please be smart and safe with the number of animals that you keep in your homes.

-- 6 involved dogs that were roaming at large

-- In two incidents, attacking dogs were likely being used for some type of guarding purposes as significant amounds of marajuana were found inside the home.

When considering these types of attacks, it's important to look at all the factors -- how the animals were cared for, whether there is a history of aggression (most dogs don't "attack" as their first form of aggression) and the purpose of the dog (whether it was viewed as a family pet or used for guarding purposes).

At least 9 of these incidents could have been avoided if leash laws had been properly enforced (and most of the cases involved either known packs of loose dogs or dogs that habitually ran at large). Combine this with the 13 cases involving unsupervised infants and toddlers, most of these cases were very easily avoidable.

As I note previously, when you look at the CIRCUMSTANCES behind these incidents your realize they are a much larger contributor to the attacks than "breed" -- which is why we MUST focus on these circumstances if we want to educate owenrs about attacks. These circumstances include:

- Animals living in abuseful/neglectful situations

- The purpose of the dog to the family home

- Packs of free-roaming/at-large dogs

- Children being left unsupervised by parents, particularly in the presence of a dog

January 02, 2013

Late last week, 8 year old Tomas Henio was attacked and killed by 9 feral dogs in Cibola County, NM. The young boy was outside sledding down a snowy hill near his home. Neither the boy's mother, nor his stepfather heard any commotion but later found the young boy dead in the snow. The dogs, all mixed breed dogs -- one of which weighed up to 100 lbs, were common in the area and may have been fed and "cared for" by the victim's great-uncle.

The incident took place on Navajo Nation owned land in New Mexico. Because of cultural differences in the idea of canine "ownership" between many Native American tribes and most of the United States, free-roaming dogs are very common and a fact of life on many Reservations.

According to Navajo Nation wildlife and animal control manager Kevin Gleason, it is estimated that as many as 445,000 dogs roam freely on the reservation of about 89,000 households. He also reports that they respond to about 25 dog bite cases a month (which is 300 per year) and 25 attacks on livestock each month -- very high numbers for such a small population. The area euthanizes about 6,000 dogs a year.

Dog attacks are rare, and ones causing serious, fatal injury are even more rare. However, this is the second similar tragedy on the same Indian Reservation -- as 55 year old Larry Armstrong was found dead on December 8, 2010 from a similar incident -- and shows why it is important that in most of the US we continue to treat animals as household pets and continue to pick up stray dogs so we don't have large groups of free-roaming dogs in neighborhoods (which is not common in most of the US).

My heart goes out to the family Henio family, and to the people in Navajo Nation who are trying to solve their feral dog problem.

December 18, 2012

So, again, hate posting these stories but am working on some things for the year-end synopsis and having the indivdual stories will help draw some texture to this ongoing dialogue and conversation.

Dog bite-related fatalities are exceedingly rare -- with somewhere are 30 happening each year in the United States. While 30 may seem like a lot, in a nation with nearly 78 million owned dogs, and more than 300 million people, the odds of someone being a victim are virtually non-existent. But these cases do remain tragedies for the families of the victims, which is why its exceedingly important people to focus on the circumstances surrounding the attacks -- which is a much more impactful way of assessing them than by focusing just on the looks of the dogs involved.

34 year old Esteban Alavez of Selma, A was found dead outside his home-- apparently a victim of being attacked by dogs. Alavez was found by a woman who saw him laying on her property when she arrived home that night.

The man was apparently attacked by four dogs, described as "pit bulls", that were roaming at large in the neighborhood -- and according to one neighbor, were frequently roaming at large and often displayed aggressive behavior prior to this event and were linked to the deaths of two pets in just the past month.

According to the the Fresno County Coroner, he suffered a bite that punctured his jugular vein.

A total of 12 dogs were seized from a nearby home -- including a chihuahua and 7 puppies that were not believed to be involved in the attack.

No community should have to be fearful of roaming packs of aggressive dogs in their neighborhood -- regardless of the type of dogs they are. Any large group of dogs can be a problem for a singular individual if they become aggressive toward them, and can be controlled by the proper enforcement of a leash law.

Two year old Savannah Edwards was tragically killed when she was bitten by a dog owned by a family relative.

The dog involved was a rescued dog, about 6 years old, and was a pit bull type dog. Neighbors report that the dog was calm and mild mannered.

Edwards, and her mother, went to visit their relative at his home in rural Shawnee County. It was that relative that owned the dog. Unfortunately, thus far, not much information is available on the circumstances leading up to the incident -- or whether the incident was an "attack" or whether it was a poorly placed bite.

Although major dog bites are rare, young toddlers are often the victims when they happen because they tend to not recognize warning signals given by dogs -- which is why children and dogs should always be supervised when they're together.

This area of Shawnee County has a poverty level of 21% -- so about 50% higher than the national average. Meanwhile, there has also been some mis-information in this case trying to link it to Topeka's breed specific law repeal two years ago. This incident occured in unincorporated Shawnee County (Topeka is the county seat of Shawnee County) and in an area unaffected by Topeka laws. Meanwhile, Topeka was very right to repeal their breed-specific law 2 years ago as there is no linkage between breed-specific laws at actually improving public safety.

Unfortunately this is a tragic accident and my heart goes out to the family in this case.

November 18, 2012

So, today we're going to do something a little different with the roundup. Usually I use this space on Sunday morning's to 'round up' the week's top stories. I may not get to that this week, and if I do, it it will be later tonight. However, this week there were three dog-bite related fatalities, and there is an older one that I'm adding to the list that I had been waiting until more info was available, but apparently more info isn't coming any time soon.

Before I get into these four tragic cases, please let me note, as I usually do, that dog bite fatalities are extremely rare. American's share their homes with more than 72 million owned dogs in this country -- that live more than 300 million people.

And yet, a tiny number (usually around 25-30) of these dogs end up killing someone each year. When these incidents happen, it is not because of breed, or because dogs are bad, or dangerous -- it is almost always a result of very poor ownership, or some human action that led to circumstances that ended up as an attack.

So, with that, here are the four most recent incidents and as much information as I can find about them.

The victim had spent the previous night at the house -- but this was the first time she had cleaned the house and was not familiar to the dogs. The owners were using the dogs for breeding and were described in various places as either American Bulldogs or "Olde English Bulldogges" and ranged in size from young puppies to 105 lbs.

Authurities aslo found 24 marijuana plants in the home that were growing in the back bedroom of the home.

This story was reported by 19 news sources.

Updated 12/19 - According to Animal Services Spokesman Dan DeSousa, he believes the dogs were a mix of Olde English Bulldogs mixed with American Bulldogs in order to make them larger in size -- as all of the dogs weighed in at a little over 100 lbs. The victim has been identified as 30 year old Remedios Romero-Solares who worked as a house sitter and housekeeper. The media is also reporting that the owners of the dogs regularly sold puppies for $2500 due to their potential for size and power as adults and that many of the puppies were "aggressive and difficult to handle".

Yadkin, NC

In Yadkin, NC, a 2 month old infant was tragically killed by the family dog. The child, Dixie Jennings, died from head injuries due to the dog bite.

There is little information about this incident as reports have not been released to the public., including the type of dog involved in the attack, or whether the parents were present when the incident happened. Incidents involving infants like this are not common, but can happen even without an aggressive dog because of the sheer size of the dog and how fragile infants are.

The woman, Dawn Brown, had just adopted a Mastiff a couple of weeks ago after a family member had decided they no longer wanted the dog after having a newborn infant so Brown brought it into her home. There were two other dogs in the home, a Boxer and a pit bull, but according to the autopsy report, the Mastiff is the one that bit the victim in the neck causing the fatal wound.

The Mastiff was said to have weighed about 150 lbs.

Because there were no witnesses to the attack, there is no clear cause of the attack, although Brown's boss, battalion chief Michael Kalina, did say that there had been some "turf wars" between the new mastiff and the other two dogs in the home but "nothing out of the ordinanry or aggressive". While the victim getting in the middle of an altercation between two of the dogs seems like a likely scenario, there doesn't seem to be much evidence that this was the case. "We literally have noting pointing to why this occurred," said Sheriff's Department Lt. Pat Gengler.

This story was reportd by 37 news sources.

Stanton, DE

In Stanton, DE, 55 year old Robert Rochester died, potentially from injuries sustained in a dog attack. Rochester, a postal worker, was on his postal route when he was attacked by a 12 year old German Shepherd that has escaped from the owner's home. Rochester spent the night in the hospital being treated for "serious" injuries.

Rochester was released from the hospital, but a few days after the attack, he suffered "complications" that are thougth to be linked to the attack and suffered cardiac arrest and died.

The dog was euthanized and is being tested for rabies. At this point, it is not 100% clear if the dog attack led to the victim's death, or if it was from something unrelated. The autopsy was unclear, and further forensic information is unavailable.

This story was reported by 19 news sources.

If I am able to get any more information about any of these incidents I will pass it along. My heart goes out to the family and friends of all of the victims.

October 08, 2012

Wow. It's been a really rough couple of weeks on the dog bite fatality front. Dog attack fatalities are EXTREMELY rare -- usually amounting to only about 30 or so a year as compared to 72 million+ owned dogs in this country. Unfortunately, they do happen. And because of their rarity, it is exceedingly important to recognize the circumstances behind these attacks -- because, if any type of dog was 'bred to kill' incidents like this would be far more common. The reality is that dog attack fatalities are so rare you probably couldn't create one if you wanted to.

However, there were two incidents last week. Both tragic. Both preventable. And both can probably tell us a lot about how to avoid tragic attacks and how the humans involved helped create the incidents.

Mary Jo Hunt was a 53 year old woman in Pembroke, NC. Hunt, a rescuer, was in the back yard of her home with "10-15" dogs. According to the reports, several of the larger dogs began attacking one (or more) of the smaller dogs. Hunt apparently tried to intervene and separate the dogs using a rake, but was overwhelmed by the total number of dogs. She was caught up in the attack and died of injuries sustained when the dogs also attacked her.

The situation on the dogs involved is a little unclear -- including how many dogs were actually involved. "Several" of the dogs were German Shepherds and 7 'pit bulls' (the sheriff's office is calling the dogs "mixed breeds" while the Interim Shelter director is calling them 'pit bulls" -- the video footage shows a lot of mixed breed dogs at the shelter -- but it's unclear if the dogs in the video are the ones involved in the attack ) are being blamed for the attack, and 2 other terriers and another 'pit bull" were apparently among the dogs that were "attacked" by the other dogs.

The area where this happened has a 26% poverty rate -- nearly double the national average.

While a lot of the details of the attack are unclear, it does show a situation where one person was responsible for caring for a large number of large dogs all on her own. Any time you have multiple dogs together, there is an opportunity for a skirmish to break out between a couple of the dogs. If that happens, and multiple dogs decide to jump in, then you can definitely have a mess on your hands if you are by yourself. A similar situation happened in August when 23 year old Rebecca Carey was attacked by one of five dogs that were being kept in her home and she apparently got in the middle of two of them fighting.

I highly recommend that rescuers, who often have big hearts and find it hard to say no, understand their limits and avoid situations where they have too many animals for them to handle on their own and always plan on what to do in the "worst case" scenario.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Ms. Hunt.

The story was picked up by 23 different news sources -- only one of which bothered to mention the presence of German Shepherds at the home.

Tarilyn Bowles was a 3 week old infant that was tragically killed by a dog last week. According to the reports (in, what is an odd story that I'm not quite buying), the infant's mother was temporarily staying in the home of friend and came into the home. She set the toddler on the floor in her child safety seat. The mother did not realize the dog was in the house and thought it was outside. While the mother left the baby unattended, the dog apparently bit the infant in the face and the infant died of the injuries. The dog is being described as a 'pit bull'.

A lot of parts of this story don't make sense -- particularly that the mother said she didn't know the dog was in the house when she came home. I've been around a lot of dogs in my life, and I'm not sure I've ever met one (either aggressive or friendly) that didn't greet me at the door when I got home. So to arrive at the home, and the dog not make its presence known, seems, well, odd.

The incident happened in the 48228 area code of Detroit -- which has a 38% poverty rate -- nearly 3x the national average. I highlight this because I think often people in low-income areas feel the need to get dogs that are (or train dogs to be) somewhat aggressive because they usually live in areas of higher crime. I also think there is a lot of dog ownership education that needs to happen in a lot of low-income areas to help avoid tragedies like this.

Regardless, very young infants are very vulnerable to bites like this as a bite to an adult can be life-threatening to a very young infant - and a bite like this is more likely to happen if the dog is not well-socialized with the infant. And regardless of the socialization, a dog should NEVER be left alone with a child that is under the age of 6 without adult supervision.

My heart goes out to the family and everyone involved in the incident.

October 02, 2012

After a really quiet summer, it's been a really tragic last couple of weeks when it comes to dog bite fatality incidents. With 72 million dogs that live in our homes with us, and share our bedrooms, dogs are extremely safe members of our lives -- but sometimes incidents do occur. When these rare cases do happen, it is very important for us to look at the human-created circumstances that led up to the attack/bite so that we can better prevent such incidents in the future.

In Burleson, TX, a three month old child was tragically killed by the family dog. The incident is pretty bizarre in nature, but here's the gist of it as told by the media.

Essentially, police were called upon the scene last Monday night to intervene on a domestic distrubance call. Apparently the child's mother and father were seperated (after 3 months) and the mother came to the father's home. The two got into an argument, which led to the police being called.

While the police were on the scene, interviewing witnesses and taking photographs of some reported injuries that occured during the dispute, the 3 month old child fell asleep in the grandfather's arms. The grandfather put the baby inside on a bed -- leaving it alone with the dog inside the home.

They then heard a disturbance inside, and the grandfather ran in to find that the dog had pulled the infant off onto the floor and he ran outside with the infant in his arms. The infant was later pronounced dead. The dog involved in the incident is being called a 'pit bull mix" -- although from images on the internet it appears to be just a mixed breed dog.

In this space, I always tell people that newborns and toddlers should always be supervised 100% when with dogs -- no matter how well-behaved the dog is. In this case, the child was left alone with the dog during what was no doubt a very crazy scene: the dog was on the scene as the parents fought (enough to at least create injuries and lead to police being called to the scene), for police cars to pull up, likely with lights flashing, and strangers hanging out around the house taking photos and statements -- it would be enough to amp -up even the most docile of dogs. Meanwhile, it is unclear what injuries the child died from -- whether they were from bites sustained by the dog or from the fall from being drug off the bed.

Either way, it's a tragic story and a tragic scene where the humans are very much responsible for the situation that led up to the incident. The story was picked up by 39 news outlets.

In Oklahoma City, 60 year old Nellie Davis was apparently attacked by one of her daughter's two dogs. Ms. Davis' granddaughter was living in her grandmother's home while and Ms. Davis had just returned to the home after suffering from a long-standing sickness following having a heart transplant. While the granddaughter was away, one of the two dogs that lived at the home broke free from its plastic kennel (sounds like a travel crate, and not a sturdy metal kennel) and apparently attacked the older woman. There were no witnesses to the incident, and the granddaughter returned home to find her grandmother dead.

Police who arrived on the scene shot the dog when it was too aggressive to be confined back in its kennel.

According to neighbor testimony, the dogs had recently fought with each other and according to family testimony, this particular dog often became aggitated during thunderstorms (which were occurring at the time of the attack). The dog involved in the attack is being called a 'pit bull'.

September 21, 2012

Apparently, Thomas went out to check the mail when two free-roaming dogs that belonged to a neighbor attacked him. The dogs were described as Rottweilers.

Authorities had to kill the two attacking dogs because they were so aggressive -- and then removed 33 additional dogs, all Rottweilers, from the neighbor's property. According to police chief Byron Jackson: "We don't know if we have a breeding operation, but all the dogs appear to be vicious and the cages are not substantial enough to hold them."

Attacks like this are extremely rare - -and when they happen, it is easy to people to just chalk the incident up to the breed of dog involved in the attack. But this isn't the right way to do it. The right way is to look at the circumstances involved in the attack and try to cure those circumstances as a variety of different breeds are involved in fatal dog bite incidents.

In this case, it appears that we have someone who was intentionally breeding aggressive dogs and keeping them in pens that were not suitable for dogs the size that these were. Leeds also has a poverty level above 20% -- so about 1.5x higher than the national average. Leeds also has a significantly higher incident of violent crimes than the national average -- which may have increased the demand for "guard dogs" -- which may or may not have been what this man was breeding for.

I will share more information about this tragedy when and if it becomes available. Right now the story has only been picked up in about 3 media outlets.

September 12, 2012

For about 6 years now I've been covering dog-bite related fatalities on this blog. I don't like covering them -- as I hate focusing on the negative issues of dogs when the reality is that there are tens of millions of dogs in this country that are wonderfully owned pets that add so much to our daily lives in terms of exercise, affection and companionship.

However, it has always seemed that the media, and various haters out there always want to turn fatalities into anti-dog sentiment -- and so I always feel like I need to continue to provide as-accurate-as-possible reports on these cases so that the conversation can continue to focus on the CIRCUMSTANCES that lead up to these tragic cases, as opposed to focusing on non-causal factors like breed. Focusing on the wrong factors only further creates ignorance as to the causal factors so we can prevent future incidents.

While major incidents are EXTREMELY rare (only about 30 of the 72 million dogs in this country are involved in dog bite fatalities annually), they do happen -- and this week they seem to be happening in bunches. So here are three that have happened just over the past week or so:

Debra, a 45 year old female, was killed by both of her owned dogs on Friday in her home in Jefferson County, AR (in a rural area near Pine Bluff). The dogs are both described as "pit bulls", although at least one media outlet said one of the dogs that had to be shot on the scene weighed more than 100 lbs, which would be much larger than any of the 'pit bull' breeds.

The victim's husband apparently came home to find his wife bitten and killed by the dogs. She sustained bite wounds on both of her legs and one of the bites severed one of her main arteries causing her to die of blood loss.

The dogs had actually had a history of attacking people, including previously biting the victim. Animal services had also made previous trips to the home when neighbors complained that the dogs were being abused or neglected. The home where both the victim and the dogs lived was presently without running water. Poverty definitely seems to have played a role in this attack -- and nearly 25% of all residents in Jefferson County live below the poverty line.

Dogs that are not well cared for (as these appeared to not be) and have a history of violence (which these had) are definitely red flags based on their behavior.

I'm going to state up-front that there are a LOT of pieces of this story that don't quite add up.

According to the reports, four year old Bryton Cason was killed last week in Donalsonville, GA. Cason apparently left the home on his own accord last Wednesday night and was reported missing by his family. After a search that lasted for several hours, in the dark, the boy's body was found in some tall grass in his own front yard -- dead from apparent dog bites.

There were no witnesses to the boy's death, and none of the evidence led to any of the neighborhood dogs -- so the dog(s) that attacked the boy is completely unknown.

If the facts of the story are true, obviously there are a few key indicators here -- like a) a young boy wandering alone outside of his home after dark with no supervision and b) a free-roaming dog of some sort.

The weirder thing is that the family is saying the boy was gone for only 10 minutes -- and yet called 911 reporting the boy missing and that somehow the boy was killed in their own front yard -- but without enough of a sound (like him yelling for help?) to alert anyone of him being in trouble.

This one is new -- so we may get a few updates on it. But in this case, a 10 month old toddler was bitten and killed by the family dog. According to the reports, the boy was being watched by his grandmother and was playing on the bed when the dog began to attack the boy.

The boy was taken to the hospital but later died of the injuries.

The dog was a mixed breed dog and while police (and the media) have been calling the dog a "pit bull", officials at the County Shelter are saying the dog is a "Labrador/American Bulldog mix".

Things that would be interesting to know here would be how well-supervised the dog and boy were and whether or not the dog was familiar with the boy. Young toddlers like this are often the victims of these attacks and it often comes from poorly separating the child and dog when not supervised or failure to socialize a toddler with a dog. Although later reports noted that the dog had been aggressive before.

The story was been picked up by about 20 media outlets - and no doubt more information will become available on this one, so I'll keep it updated in this space.

My heart goes out to all the victims' families of these very rare, but tragic cases.

September 06, 2012

I was holding off on posting this one until more information came out about the attack, but at this point, it doesn't appear as if we'll get much more info.

In Trotwood, 75 year old Dawn Juergens was tragically killed in her home by her two dogs.

The woman was home alone with the two dogs, described as Cane Corsos. Authorities believe she may have had food 'on or about her person" and the dogs went into "a frenzy" when she tried to put them back in their kennels. In the frenzy, the woman was killed by the two large dogs.

There were no witnesses to the attack and the victim's husband returned home to find her dead. My heart goes out to the family and friends.

This story has been picked up by only 1 media outlet. The 45426 zip code in Trotwood has a 19% poverty rate.

While dog attacks such as this are very rare, they do happen. And it is important that when we look at these instances that we work to determine the reason for the attack based on the circumstances that led up to the attack, not focusing on breed. I'll post more on this if more information becomes available.

August 20, 2012

As I've noted before, the dog attack fatality stories are about my least favorite stories to cover. Dogs are amazing creatures that have shown an incredible ability to adapt to a variety of lifestyles we subject them to. There are more than 72 million owned dogs in this country, and extremely few end up attacking people, let alone fatally.

However, because there are a few sources that would like to spread mis-information about major attacks and focus on breeds, and not circumstances, I feel an obligation to provide as accurate information as possible about the actual causes of these incidents so that we can learn from them to prevent them instead of focusing on non-causal factors like breed. Unfortunately, in all three of the incidents below, there were no witnesses to the attacks so there is little information available.

There were two incidents this week (after over a month since the last attack) -- and one that I have to catch up on because some more information has come out that would cause me to add it to the list.

In Chicago, 44 year old Chales Hagerman was found dead in his Southside home, a victim of dog bites. There were two dogs (one puppy, one adult) inside the home, both described as 'pit bulls'. According to several who were interviewed, the adult dog had exibited aggressive behavior before -- and one of the victim's relatives notes that Hagerman was afraid of the dog and the dog had apparently bitten strangers before.

The 60607 zip code where this took placee has a 36% povery level (nearly triple the state average in Illinois,) and 12% of its residents live on less than 50% of the poverty line. I share this information only because I think poor education on proper animal care is often a cause for attacks like this and that people with low education levels often live in poverty. Low education in regular life often translates into the low education on animal care issues and an inability to get training help necessary to overcome behavioral issues early on and many low-income areas could benefit from having free training classes for pet owners.

My heart goes out to Hagerman's family. The story was picked up in 19 news outlets.

Rebecca Carey was a 23 year old woman in Decatur, GA and was found dead, apparently attacked by dogs in her home.

Carey was a rescuer and worked at a veterinary clinic. She had four dogs of her own and was pet sitting a fifth dog for the weekend. Carey owned a pit bull, a Presa Canario, a boxer and one other dog (which strangely isn't mentioned in most of the articles but apparently weighed about 15 lbs) -- and was pet sitting a friend's Presa Canario.

Authorities unfortunately euthanized all the dogs at the home without any effort to determine which one(s) were involved and what may have caused the death. Carey is described as a "Very experienced" dog handler and not naive when it came to dogs. Unfortunately, without any investigation at the scene, we're left with little to determine a cause of attack.

Without anything more, the cause in this attack is merely speculative. It would seem that two of the dogs getting into a fight and her getting into the middle of it is the most likely scenario (particularly with a new dog in the house for the weekend), but even with that, none of the news articles seem to indicate if any of the dogs were injured in any way.

It really is a horrible situation, and I feel sorry for everyone close to Carey. It's a sad moment for someone who obviously had a caring heart and passion for animals.

The story has picked up by more than 150 news outlets including many national news outlets.

This is a pickup from a story from awhile back -- but in Roxboro, NC, 65 year old Eugene Cameron was found dead outside of a friend's home -- due from an apparent dog attack. Cameron was found naked with his clothes balled up beside him (which is odd) in the yard, but had wounds that would have made him likely bleed to death. The dog's DNA was found on the victim and the owner of the dog has now been arrested.

Allegedly, Cameron was visiting a friend's house and the dog next door got free and attacked him. The dog, a 'pit bull" named DMX, was usually kept "locked up or on a leash".

It's another sad story -- and I feel for the victim and his family.

The story was not widely discussed in the media with only a dozen or so news sources covering the story.